Before he ever held a practice or coached a down at Florida last decade, a clearly overwhelmed Ron Zook told the assembled media—over and over—that he wasn’t Steve Spurrier.

Then he went out and proved it.

“There were some things,” Zook said years later, “that we could have done differently.”

And it probably wouldn’t have mattered. This is the way it works when mega powers replace legendary coaches: it never turns out well for the first coach.

There are culture changes and there is resistance. There are high expectations and there is zero margin for error.

It is, as much as anything, an untenable situation.

This is what Penn State can look forward to now that it’s long, and at times awkward search to replace Joe Paterno has wound down with the announcement of New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien as the Nittany Lions next coach.

It’s going to get ugly. Don’t believe it? Look at these revealing trends:

— Alabama: Gene Stallings was forced to retire in 1996, and Alabama went through four coaches—and NCAA probation—before Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa.

— Michigan: Lloyd Carr retired, and it took Rich Rodriguez all of two seasons to land Michigan on NCAA probation for the first time ever. A year later, he was fired and Brady Hoke—who looks like the right fit—was hired.

O’Brien hasn’t stepped foot in State College, Pa., not in front of players and fans, anyway. Yet, he has already encountered blowback. His resume doesn’t floor anyone. He’s not a Penn Stater. The search committee reportedly didn’t ask Penn Staters what they thought, either. Beyond that, O’Brien is a mystery to many in college football circles.

None of this helps. The situation is difficult under ordinary circumstances; it’s nearly impossible under these, as he walks into a buzz saw of utter chaos.

Former Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen worked with O’Brien at Maryland and at Georgia Tech, both assistant college coaching stops for O’Brien. He was also an assistant at Duke. Friedgen believes in O’Brien more than PSU faithful do right now.

“I don’t think he would have taken the job if he didn’t think he could handle it,” Friedgen said in an exclusive interview with Tom Dienhart of the Big Ten Network. “And it isn’t going to be an easy situation. But he’s a smart guy and he’s not going to get into something he doesn’t think he can do.”

Friedgen called O’Brien “a tireless worker.”

He’ll have to be to handle this job. But it’s more likely Penn State will find itself in the same spot as the Alabamas and Oklahomas before it.

What happens with the next hire—three or four years later—will dictate if Penn State returns to the nation’s elite.